Form for sales-slips.



PATENTED APR. 25, 1905.

WL F. BECK. PORMVFR SALES SLIPS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 2z, 1904.

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No. 738,346'. PATENTBD APR. 25, 1905.

W. P. BECK. PURM PoR sALEssLIPs.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 22, 1904.

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Patented April 25,1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

WTARREN F. BECK, OF ELMIRA,. NEV YORK.

FORNI FOR SALES-SLIPS- SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.788,346, dated April 25, 1905.

Application iiled August 22, 1904. Serial No. 221,602.

To (L7/Z whom, it nto/ 7] con/cern:

Be it known that I, IVARREN F. BECK, a citi- Zen of the' United States,residing at Elmira, in the county of Ohemungand State of New York, .haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Forms for Sales-Slips,of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in the printed forms forsales-slips which are used generally by merchants in transactingbusiness with their customers; and the object of my improvements is toprovide a form whereon at the top of the slip or some other suitableplace may be displayed in a position convenient for inspection when theslips are iled away in a manner substantially as hereinafter explainednot only the name of the customer, but also the total amount of the.charges against him, so that a mere inspection of the exposed portionof the slip will give at once the condition of the customers account.

I` attain my object by means of printed blanks, such as illustrated inthe accompany-v Figure 1 represents a blank leaf with my preferred formprinted thereon; Fig. 2,2m illustration of the manner of iiling awaythese slips by the merchant; Fig. 3, a detail showing a transversesection of a form of liling-case adapted for this purpose, and Fig. 4 amodilication in the arrangement of the form.

Like letters of reference designate like parts in the several views.

These sales-slips are ordinarily put up in pads or pass-books, fromwhich they or some of them are rendered detachable either by means ofperforated lines at one side or one end of the slips or otherwise. Theyare usually put up with a carbon transfer-sheet, so that an original andduplicate may be made of each transaction, one for the customer and onefor the merchant, and it is with the slips that are retained by themerchant that my invention has principally to do.

For convenience in filing the merchant will be provided with a filingcase or receptacle made up of a series of compartments, preferv ably ofa liexible nature, as illustrated, for

example, in Figs. 2 and 3, within which the sales-slips are placed, withan inch or so of the top displayed above the tops of the compartments,the compartments being' so arranged that the top of each package ofslips will be shown above the top of the slips in the next lowercompartment, thus economizing space. In order that the condition of thecustomers account may be ascertained by the merchant without removingthe slips from the compartments, I print one end of the slips with aform which when filled out will give to the merchant all the necessaryinformation, so that by simply glancing at his file he can ascertain atonce the state of any of his customers accounts.

In my preferred form the sales-slips A will be printed at the top at oneside with name', date, and address lines, and at the other side,preferably the right-hand corner, with a form of ruling for dollars andcents, as indicated at B. On the upper line of this ruling will beplaced the amount of the customers account as brought forward from thesales-slip last made out to him, and underneath this will be placed thefooting of the items as shown on the slip itself, whether these items bedebit or credit, and the footings of these two items will be placedopposite the word Total in the third line. Thus in the files, asillustrated in Fig. 2, the sales-slips belonging to John Adams, whichare placed in the upper compartment O, willshow that there has beenbrought forward from the last transaction previous to June 30 the amountof twentythree dollars and one cent, that the amount of his purchase ofJune 30 was one dollar and seventy live cents, and his total accounttwenty-four dollars and seventy-six cents. In the next lower compartmentthe package of slips belonging to J. O. Andrews show that on August lthere was brought forward a balance against him of nine dollars andthirtylive cents, that on August 1 he paid, as shown by his last slip,two dollars on account, leaving a total charge against him of sevendollars and thirty-five cents. In this manner the files will be made upto show the individual accounts of customers, the slips of each customerbeing placed together in a compartment by themselves with the slip ofthe latest date outermost and all arranged in alphabetical IOO order,and it will be apparent that the whole story ofeach customerstransactions will be ascertained by a glance at the iiles Withoutrequiring the slips to be removed.

In some instances the sales-slips are put up in pass-books, the originalslips being retained by the customer', while the duplicates are taken bythe merchant and ledaway. In this form of book the condition of thecustomers account is shown to the salesman by the preceding slip of thebook, so that the salesman himself may carry forward the amount alreadystanding against the customer and include it in the items of the slipwhich he is making out in the manner shown on the lower package of slipsin Fig. 2, where the compartment is broken away at I) to show the itemson the slip. In this form of slip it will not be requisite to carry upto the top of the slip the amount brought forward or the footing of theitems charged on the slip, since these are allfooted up in the body ofthe slip, and therefore I may provide only a ruling at the top for theentry of the total charge against the customer, as shown at B on theslips under the name of T. H. Ball and H. C. Benjamin. This, however,will be an optional modilication, my preferred form for the slips inthese pass-books being that first described, since thereby the wholestory of each slip is told in condensed form and in a convenient mannerand place for inspection.

By this improvement in the form of salesslips I provide means wherebythe merchant, in connection with a suitable filing-case, can do all ofhis bookkeeping by means of the sales-slips themselves by arranging saidslips in a most convenient and compact manner, thereby saving much timeand labor and doing away with keeping a set of books in which entriesmust be made from the slips.

I do not confine myself to the precise arrangement and location of therulings and other data on the slips as hereinabove described. It may notbe required to place the date where it will show when the slips are inthe files, and the entry-spaces entitled Forward and This bill may betransposed, so that either entry may be placed above the other.Moreover, since the filing case or receptacle may be arranged with itscompartments opening in the reverse position to thatv yention.

Having thus described my improvement, what I claim as my invention, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- l. A sales-slip having one endprovided with a space containing a place designated to receive acustomers name, said space also containing a designated place of entryfor the amount of the customers account brought forward from a precedingslip, a designated place of entry for the footing of the items enteredon the slip, and a designated place of entry for the total account.

2. A sales-slip having one end provided with a space containingdesignated name and date lines, together with places of entry for theamount of a customers account brought forward from a preceding slip, thefooting of the items entered on the slip, and the total account, saidplaces of entry being arranged in sequence at one side of said space andappropriately designated.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

WARREN F. BECK.

Witnesses:

IV. C. Mn'rzenr., A. H. MARKS.

